Drill Dr.

I was thinking about buying a Drill Dr. bit sharpener. I was wondering
if anyone on here has any input (good or bad) about the product. I drill
mostly in metal so I do burn through bits quite a bit and I think it
might be worth the money.

On Thu, 04 Nov 2004 23:46:12 -0600, John
Looks like a good idea, but there are some of them around where the
"chuck" doesn't work accurately, owing to a manufacturing fault. In
the UK there's no product backup and you're stuck with the useless
thing. Darex are on my "Don't buy another of their products" list.

There was a thread about this back around Christmas that resulted in me buying a
model 300 Drill Dr at Home Cheapo for only $50 or so. I thought it was a good
deal then and I still like it.
The Drill Dr can't sharpen every type of bit but it does just fine on common
ones.

and your post about finding one for $50 was a great deal for ME...
I asked my neighbor if he'd heard of the drill dr. and he hadn't...
but asked if I had dull bits..
I told him that I had boxes of them, some that were my dad's.. I
figured later that I had about 100 dull bits..
He came over one morning and sharpened ALL of my bits in about 2
hours... what a great deal!

It's your money, but I'd suggest you stop by a local machine shop and ask
the operator to show you how to sharpen a bit on a belt sander or a grinder.
It's really quite simple once you develop the knack for it and developing
the knack is not at all difficult. Stick the $100 or so in your pocket for
something you really need and impress your friends at the same time. The
advantage is that you can resharpen any bit yourself. Even broken ones that
really don't work in the sharpening machines. Once you know the basic
profile of a drill bit - and you will if you learn how to grind them, then
you can put it on a bit that's been broken off and suddenly you have a
working bit again - albeit shorter. You can't really screw up - if you
grind the bit badly you'll know it immediately since it won't cut any better
than it did before you started, and maybe worse. So - go grind it again.
It takes longer to unchuck a bit than it does to grind a new profile on it.
Can't say that of the sharpening machines.
The only bits that become a pain to sharpen are the very small ones - for
obvious reasons. So - buy spares and keep them with your index. Compare
the cost to keep a couple of each of your really small sizes to the cost of
a Drill Dr. With almost no practice and a modicum of hand-eye coordination,
you can easily sharpen bits down to 1/8 in size.

The Drill Doctor handles broken bits just fine--if there's too much of a
spur projecting you may have to grind it off first, but that's a minor
problem.

Well, it takes about the same amount of time to grind a new profile on a bit
with the Drill Doctor that it does to unchuck it, so that's not an issue
either.
Try using one for a while--it's not a panacea but it's not what you seem to
think it is, either.

IMHO if you are young and trying to build up a workshop you can probably
find a better place to spend your cash.
If you are an old coot like me and have boxes and coffee cans full of drill
bits around the shop it is a very nice investment. I have been able to
sharpen all of my day-to-day bits and put together bit sets for 3 tool boxes
I use here and out of town. I have owned the Model 500 for a few months and
enjoy having it (can't beat it as a gift hint).
CAUTION: I could be wrong, but I believe the lower end machine requires
some kind of silly service to replace the grinding stone. It might require
sending it to the factory. Anyone else have experience with this?

My local dealer said he stopped carrying them because people figured
out it was cheaper to buy "jobber" bits than to bother sharpening them.
I've never had trouble sharpening by hand - if I keep up with the bit
long enough to get it dull. Funny how the little ones seem to get lost
while they are still sharp.
Oh, I just realized I'm using brad point bits now. I don't think the
drill doctor can handle those.
Bob

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